The Years, Months, Days

About

• A luminous and deeply moving tale of hunger, loss and life by one of China’s most renowned contemporary writers • When a terrible drought devastates a small village in rural China the residents decide to flee to more fruitful land. Incapable of marching, one old man stays behind, accompanied by his blind dog • Ever hopeful that the other villagers will soon return, the elder and his dog continue to guard a budding corn seed, even as they both struggle desperately to survive • Inspired partly by Yan’s own childhood growing up during China’s Great Famine, the novella grapples with themes of deprivation, yearning, forfeiture and desire • This fable-like story is a bestselling contemporary classic in China; children have it read to them by their parents before they learn to read it themselves • As with his previous novels, The Years, Months, Days has been beautifully translated by Carlos Rojas • Yan’s recent English release, The Four Books, was shortlisted for the Man Booker International in 2016. Yan has previously been awarded two of China's most prestigious literary awards, the Lu Xun Prize and the Lao She Award, and the 2014 Franz Kafka Book Prize